4 May 2020 – The Mercury attitude is a synergy of three elements: ‘curious & original’, ‘commit & own it’ and ‘share and connect’.
When telesales representative Abbas Ali (“Abba” to his customers) took a call from Mercury customer Marianne*, he didn’t realise how fully he would have lived out the Mercury attitude by the end of their interaction.
Marianne called to gain a better understanding of her electricity bill, Abbas says.
“I started to explain Marianne’s bill to her when all of a sudden, she became upset. She said she had a lot on her shoulders, a sick adult son to support, and no other family around. Marianne relies on WINZ payments and when a person is watching every dollar, any kind of bill can be overwhelming. I really felt for her,” Abbas says.
For Abbas, this wasn’t a moment for “talking shop”; instead, he did his best to support Marianne, and reassured her he would do his best to help her.
“I asked Marianne, was there anything else I could do for her? I really felt she was someone who needed a little bit of extra help at this time, especially as we’re going through the Covid-19 lockdown,” says Abbas. “We’d been chatting for quite some time at this point, and she suggested that perhaps I could drop her a line from time to time to check on her?
“This request from Marianne really moved me because it drove home to me that my teammates and I are truly in a privileged position being at the forefront of Mercury. My prevailing thought was, why shouldn’t I do a good deed here, because I believe in karma: you reap what you sow,” says Abbas.
“So when I emailed Marianne some follow-up information about her power bill, I also encouraged her to please reach out if there’s ever anything else I can do and that while she might not have family, she does have us!”
At Easter, Abbas followed up again. It was in a small but personal way, just because Abbas felt it was the right thing to do. “Marianne was totally amazed, and I was overwhelmed at her appreciation.
“This experience has reminded me that power is essential to people’s lives, and it’s a privilege of my role to share and connect with people, which sees me living Mercury’s values, each and every day.”
*not her real name
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ABOUT MERCURY NZ LIMITED Mercury’s mission is energy freedom. Our purpose is to inspire New Zealanders to enjoy energy in more wonderful ways and our goal is to be New Zealand’s leading energy brand. We focus on our customers, our people, our partners and our country; maintain a long term view of sustainability; and promote wonderful choices. Mercury is energy made wonderful.